Railway-switch.



No. 813,754. PATENTED FEB. 27, 1906. F. VOGEL.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1905.

s SHBETSSHEET 1.

imj -ll I No. 813,754. PATENTED FEB, 27, 1906.

F. VOGEL.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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APIPLIOATION FILED JUNE 22, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FREDERICK VOGEL, OF FARMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1906.

Application filed June 22, 1905. Serial No. 266,470.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK VoeEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Farmington, in the county of Fulton, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Switches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railroad-switches and means for operating them, and has for its object to provide a switch mechanism including a track instrument carried by a piece of rolling-stock which will be arranged to move the points of a switch and which will include means for returning the track instrument to inoperative position after the switch has been thrown.

Another object is to provide a novel arrangement of parts which will be such that derangement thereof will be unlikely to occur.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, and it will be understood that changes in the specific construction shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims, and

that any suitable materials may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a track provided with the present mechanism, the forward portion of an engine being shown with the track instrument in operative position. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the rail and switch mechanisms, showing the switch open to the siding. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the switch closed. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the track instrument and its operating mechanism, portions of the locomotive being shown in dotted lines. sectional view on line 6 6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the'hand-lever and its connections.

Referring now. to the drawings, there is shown a portion of a locomotive 5, having Fig. 6 is aa transversely-extending horizontal plate 6 at the forward portion thereof, upon which are mounted brackets 7, and journaled in these brackets there is a transverse rockshaft 8, having cranks 9 at its ends. These elements form portions of a track instrument, which also include two members 10, located at opposite sides of the locomotive, these members consisting of vertical guides in which are slidably mounted trip -blocks 12 for vertical movement. The trip-blocks have spaced ears 12 at their upper ends in which the cranks 9 are pivoted, and it will .thus be seen that by rocking the shaft 8 the trip-blocks may be raised and lowered. The rock-shaft has an upwardly-extending finger 13, to which is pivoted the forward end of an arm 14, having its rearward end pivoted to a hand-lever 15, mounted in a suitable position upon the locomotive, and preferably in the cab thereof. The hand-lever is provided with a spring-actuated dog 16, equipped with a grip-release 17, and this dog is disposed for engagement of a notched segment 18 to hold the lever with the trip-blocks 12 raised and in inoperative position. The notches of the segment 18 are beveled at one side, so that the trip-blocks may be raised by pressure applied to their lower portions.

In the first four figures of the drawings there is shown a main-line track 19 and a siding 20, movable points 21 being provided, which are shiftable into position to close or open the siding. A transversely-extending shift-rod 22 is connected with the points and extends laterally at one side of the main-line track, this shift-rod carrying at its outer end a cross-head 23, which is slidably mounted between guides 24, the shift-rod being located at a point forwardly of the movable points. A disk-shaped plate 25 is pivoted upon the foremost guide 24 and has a rearwardly extending segmental projection 26, having an inner slanting face 26, directed toward the track, and an outer similar face 26",directed away from the track, this latter face having a notch 27 therein, which lies in spaced relation to the disk 25. The projection 26 extends through the path of movement of an upwardly-extending lug 28, carried by the cross-head 23, and when the switch is in open position this lug lies at the limit of its movement in the direction of the track and rests against the face 26 of the projection 26, forwardly of the notch 27. When the lug is in this position, the projection 26 lies with its face 26in the path of movement of one of the trip-blocks 12 of a locomotive disposed upon the rails when this trip-block is in operative position, and it will thus be seen that should a locomotive pass over the track with its trip-block lowered the projection 26 would be engaged by one of the trip-blocks to move the disk upon its pivot. At the same time the shift-rod would be moved outwardly to close the switch, and the arrangement is such that when the switch moves into closed position the lug 28 slips into the notch 27.

A notch 29 is formed in the rearward'end of the segment 26 and is adapted to receive the free end of a ivoted latch 30, mounted upon the rearwari guide 24, this notch lying in position to receive the latch after the segment has been moved to close the switch, and a helical spring 31 is provided to hold the latch yieldably in the notch. It will thus be seen that the switch is held against return movement into open position by the mechanism just described.

A track-brace 32 is disposed against the outer rail 20 of the siding at the outer face thereof and extends somewhat above the rail, this brace having a downwardly and forwardly slanted face 33. This face lies in the path of movement of a trip-block 12, lying in position to operate the switch mechanism, and when the trip-block comes into engagement with the face 33 of the rail-brace the trip-block is raised to inoperative position, in which it is held by the dog 16, described in the foregoing. It will of course be understood that the two trip-blocks are provided for the operation of switch mechanisms lying at opposite sides of the track.

In operation, assuming that the switch is open and that the segment 26 is extending toward the rails, a train passing over the tracks and desiring to continue over the main line lowers its trip-blocks, one of which strikes the face 26 of the segment 26, moving it rearwardly and moving the disk 25 u on its pivot. The segment resting against the ug 28 moves the latter away from the rails and with it the cross-head 23, the movable points being thus moved through the medium of the shift-rod 22 into position to close the switch, and this movement of the segment 26 brings the notch 27 into position to receive the lug 28. At the same time the notch 29 comes into position to receive the end of the latch 30, which is moved into the notch by means of the heli cal spring 31, the switch being thus held positively in closed position. Further movement of the train brings the trip-block which has just operated the trip mechanism into engagement with the slanting face 33 of the rail-brace 32 toraise the trip-blocks to their inoperative positions.

What is claimed is 1. In a switch mechanism the combination with main rails, siding-rails and movable points, of a shift-rod connected with the points for movement thereof into and out of position to close the siding, a cross-head carried by the switch-rod, guides for the crosshead, a lug carried by the cross-head, a plate pivoted to one of the guides and extending through the path of movement of the lug, a trip-block carried by a piece of rolling-stock and adapted for engagement of the plate to move the latter and the lug to shift the points, means for holding the plate with the points in position to close the siding, said trip-block being movable into and out of operative position and means located beyond the plate for moving the trip-block in inoperative position.

2. In a switch mechanism the combination with main-track rails, siding-rails and points movable into and out of position to close the siding, of means for moving the rails, a tripblock carried by a piece of rolling-stock and movable into and out of operative position, said trip-block when in operative position being adapted for engagement of point-moving means for operation thereof and a rail-brace located beyond the point-moving means and adapted for engagement of the trip-block after the latter has passed the point-moving means to move the trip-blockinto inoperative position.

3. In a switch mechanism the combination with main rails, siding-rails and points movable into and out of position to close the siding, of a shift-rod connected with the points for movement thereof and extending laterally beyond the rails, forward and rearward guides located at opposite sides of the shiftrod, a cross-head carried by the outer end of the shift-rod and slidably engaged between the guides, a segmental plate pivotally connected at its forward portion with the forward guide and extending across the shiftrod between the cross-head and the rails, a lug carried by the cross-head said plate lying in the path of movement of the lug, said plate being adapted for engagement by the lug and for movement therewith to extend toward the rails when the switch is in open position, a track instrument carried by a piece of rolling-stock and adapted for engagement of the plate when in its last-named position to move the plate and therewith the lug to close the switch and means for holding the plate with the switch in closed position.

4. The combination with a locomotive, of vertical guides carried thereon, trip-blocks slidably mounted in the guides and having ferent points of its movement in one direcspaced ears at their upper ends, a rock-shaft tion. 10 mounted adjacent to the guides and having In testimony whereof I affiX my signature cranks at its ends, said cranks being pivoted in presence of two Witnesses.

between the ears of the trip-blocks, a finger FREDERICK VOGEL. carried by the rock-shaft, an arm pivoted to Witnesses:

the finger, an operating-lever pivoted to the i L. J. MARSH,

arm and means for holding the lever at difl CLYDE STEENBURG. 

